KEVIN LEY CREATES A STRIKING CHEST FROM WALNUT AND CEDAR OF LEBANON

Unique timbers and individual designs are the unique selling points of my work, so I try to make interesting, unusual, high value pieces that are small enough to go into a car boot to assist impulse buyers at shows. I have made several chests like this: they fit easily into most rooms and sell well because they can have a range of uses. The storage is flexible and the top can be used as a seat, low table or shelf.

Design

This particular design with the internal trays is aimed at use as a sewing box or for clothes storage. As this would be a display piece I intended to use a decorative timber. The frame and panel construction would allow figured book-matched panels to be shown off against straighter-grained and more stable frames. The design also allows small and narrow pieces to be used. Internal trays would be fitted to give flexibility of storage.

Wooden chest with open lid and compartments.

Selecting the Timber

1. I had some offcuts of burr walnut in stock that were ideal for this piece. There were some nice highly figured decorative pieces of burr for the panels and some narrow pieces of straighter grained timber suitable for the frames. The top panel was the largest piece I had to find. Selecting the right pieces, working round the inevitable cracks and faults in this highly figured timber is crucial to the final look of the piece. I took my time and enjoyed the challenge, marking out the pieces and cutting them out a bit oversize with a jigsaw. The trays would be made from cedar of Lebanon for its lovely scent, which is also an insect repellent. Cutting that out was much more straightforward – the timber comes in large wide boards with only the occasional large knot to work round.

2. The stock I had was 25mm thick so it would also need to be deep-sawn for the thinner drawer casings. Once all the pieces were cut out they were trimmed to just over size. The pieces for the panels and the tray casings were deep-cut on the bandsaw. I fitted the 19mm Fastcut blade from Tuffsaws and the thinner kerf and the accurate flush weld on the blade made the saw run smoother and the higher tension helped keep it true. The deep-sawing of the burr walnut for the panels and the cedar of Lebanon for the tray casings went without a hitch, and the cut finish was better too! All the pieces were faced and thicknessed, then sticked and stacked in the workshop to condition during the making.

Person measuring wood with ruler and pencil.
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Sawing wood with a bandsaw.
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The Panels

3. The deep-cut components for the panels were carefully matched up. The joining edges were planed true on the surfacer then hand- planed to remove the ripples. An extra stroke or two was taken off the middle of the joining edges to give a hollow centre.

4. When the joint was clamped up this would put extra pressure on the ends where shrinkage is likely to occur. As these pieces were burr with the grain going in all directions, it was inevitable that some parts of the glued joint would be short grain to short grain and potentially weak. To counter this, biscuits were used to strengthen the joint and help locate the pieces during clamping up. I took care to place the biscuits so that they would not be exposed during the fielding process. The joint was glued up and clamped, and when cured the glue ooze was removed with a scraper.

5. The finished panels were accurately cut to size and belt-sanded down to 150 grit. The edges of the best face were then fielded using an upright fielding cutter on the router table.

6. The fieldings were finished with a hand-plane and palm-sander. The panels were then random orbital and hand-sanded down to 320 grit and finished with several coats of oil. I always finish panels before assembly into the frames so that any parts exposed by future shrinkage will look the same as the rest of the panel.

Carpenter using hand plane on wood surface
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Clamped wood boards with visible grain patterns.
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Person using a woodworking router machine.
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Woodworker using hand plane on wooden surface.
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The Frames

7. All the frame components were cut to exact size and Domino slots cut in the ends.

8. A router with a straight cutter was set up on the router table and the stopped housings and the housings to accept the panels were cut.

9. The Dominos and slots were glued up, the panels dropped into place and the frames clamped up. Care was taken to ensure that no glue ooze spread on to the panels so that they were ‘floating’ and free to move if necessary. The frames were checked for square and wind and left to cure.

10. Once cured the housings for the ply base were cut on the router table and biscuit slots were cut in the relevant edges for the butt joints between the sides and ends. The top edge of the back was planed down to 3mm to form a rebate for the top’s piano hinge.

Carpenter using a power tool on wooden plank.
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Carpenter using table saw for precise wood cutting.
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Wooden panels clamped together for glue drying process.
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Person woodworking with saw in workshop.
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The Base

11. The base was cut from cedar of Lebanon-faced ply and was not to be sealed. This would allow the wood’s scent to permeate the interior of the chest. To avoid a difficult masking job, the interior faces of the assembled frames were oiled prior to assembly. The glue faces were masked to avoid contamination.

Applying finishing oil to wooden surface
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Assembly

12. The biscuits, slots and edges of the butt joints in the sides and ends, and the housings for the base were glued up and the carcass assembled. The joints were tapped home with a rubber mallet and clamped up, checked for square and wind, and left to set.

13. The top edges were then sanded.

Woodworker assembling cabinet in workshop.
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Carpenter sanding a wooden chest in workshop.
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Wooden storage chest with detailed grain pattern
Power drill screwing into brass hinge
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14. A piano hinge was fitted to the top back edge, which had been cut short to form a rebate for it to sit in. The pilot holes for the screws were drilled with a self-centring drill bit – a brilliant bit of kit well worth the couple of quid it cost. A strip of cedar of Lebanon was screwed to the inside of the front and back to support the trays of the chest.

Top

Man sanding wooden board with sandpaper block.
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Polished wooden surface with intricate grain patterns.
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15. The top was made in a similar way to the frame and panel carcass components with a larger single panel, fielded on the top face, and recessed into the frame. The frame corner joints were Domino loose tenons. The outside edges of the top frame were rounded over with a 6mm radius cutter on the router and the hinge fitted to the back under-face of the top. The overhang allows the top to open just past the vertical and stay open. The top panel was finished with a sanding block.

16. Here you can see the Dominos in the top construction.

Trays

Using a marking gauge on wood
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Person marking wood with pencil and square tool.
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Wood cutting with handsaw in workshop.
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Person cutting wood with a saw
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Person using a wood router on wooden plank.
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Woodworker using mallet on wooden joint.
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Wooden tray with handles under construction.
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Smoothing board edges with sanding tool
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Wooden chest with decorative plant on top
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17. The pieces for the tray components were cut to size and the dovetail depths were marked with a cutting gauge.I had sharpened the knife in the gauge to make a clean cut across the grain in the soft cedar of Lebanon.

18. The tails were marked with a hard pencil using my dovetail ‘square’.

19. The sides were taped together and the bulk of the waste removed to form the tails on both ends, all together, on the bandsaw. The tails were trimmed to exact size with a paring chisel. The pins were then marked on the sides with a scalpel, using the tails as a pattern.

20. I set up a straight cutter on the router and, using the router table and some careful marking out, removed the bulk of the waste for the pins. They were also trimmed to exact size with a paring chisel. The dovetail joints were checked for fit with a partial dry insertion. Dovetails should only go right home once! Housings were cut in the sides and ends for the cedar of Lebanon-faced ply bases.

21. The finger slots were cut on the router table, then the edges rounded over with a 3mm radius cutter, to soften them.

22. The inside faces of the sides and ends were sanded to a finish and glue applied to the dovetails and base housings. The dovetails were tapped together around the base …

23. … and the trays were clamped to finally pull up the dovetails. Diagonals were measured to check for square and the trays checked for wind. When I was happy, the clamped trays were left to cure.

24. Once cured, any glue ooze was removed with my mouse plane.

25. Most of the components had been sanded to 320 grit during the construction and several areas oiled as well. Now all the bare surfaces were checked for blemishes, which were removed by ironing, filling, scraping or sanding as necessary, then all were hand-sanded down to 320 grit.

Burr can soak up a lot of oil before the finish evens out, so the first coat was applied liberally and refreshed frequently during the first day, at the end of which the surface was vigorously rubbed with a soft cloth to remove any surplus and left for 24 hours to cure.

Any dull areas left where the grain was end on or very absorbent, were treated with Liberon Worktop Seal and Finish, a water-based varnish that can be applied to oiled surfaces and, in this case, acts as grain filler and sealer. When dry this was lightly sanded to blend with the oiled finish and several more thin coats of finishing oil applied over the whole piece at 24-hour intervals for several days. After each coat any oil remaining on the surface after 15 minutes or so was buffed off with a soft cloth. A week later the finish was cut back with a Scotchbrite grey pad and buffed with a soft cloth.

Further reading

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